£15m for someone who is not guaranteed a place in the Tottenham starting line-up is a lot of money, but even if the North London outfit eventually decide to sell Townsend for less than that, Newcastle should not make a move.

Although it is clear that the Magpies need to sign players this summer, they need to bring in quality footballers.

Townsend is an average footballer who has been found out. The 2014-15 campaign showed that he is not good enough for Spurs, and Newcastle should not make a move for him this summer.

True, the Magpies are not in a position to sign top-quality players, but they should be aiming higher than Townsend.

The England international is an average player who can do the job from time to time, but Newcastle are entering a new era and must make signings who can take the club forward.

Subhankar Mondal

A football journalist based in Wakefield, Subhankar Mondal has previously worked for Goal.com International and Skysports.com, and has had his sports articles published in The Guardian and The Observer. He has also been on the BBC in the past and his name once found its way to the pages of the World Soccer magazine. He was recently cited in a major Louis van Gaal biography.